Park City, UT - Sundance Institute spotlights work at the dynamic crossroads of film, art and technology with the New Frontier selections for the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, announced today. This curated collection of cutting-edge independent and experimental media works are by creators who are pushing artistic innovation across mediums that include rocket travel, biotech, facial recognition, mixed reality (MR), smartphone AR, underwater VR, game engines, big data, AI, the human archive, and innovative uses of SMS text & iPhone video capture. Programmers assembled a global slate of work from a mix of invitations and submissions to an open call for work earlier this year. The 2020 edition of New Frontier returns to two dedicated venue spaces: New Frontier at The Ray and New Frontier Central, each of which host a variety of media installations, a VR Cinema, and panel discussions. New this year, New Frontier Central also houses the Biodigital Theatre, a cutting-edge presentation space that will feature a rotating schedule of large scale VR theatrical works including a feature-length livestream game telecast. Once again, New Frontier Central will feature lounge space for credential holders to meet and relax before and after experiencing the New Frontier program. New Frontier also breaks out into the wild with satellite projects in the pool at Festival Headquarters, AR dances to be discovered in various locations around Park City, and a nationwide fugitive newscast accessed at various sites around the festival, as well as at 11 art house theatres across the U.S., including The Belcourt Theatre (Nashville, Tenn.); Cinema Detroit; The Loft Cinema (Tucson, Arizona); Michigan Theater (Ann Arbor, Michigan); The Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, Texas), Nitehawk Cinema (Brooklyn, New York), Northwest Film Forum (Seattle, Washington), O Cinema (Miami, Florida), Parkway Theatre (Baltimore, Maryland), The State Theatre (Ann Arbor, Michigan) and Texas Theatre (Dallas, Texas).
Robert Redford, President and Founder of Sundance Institute, said, Technology infuses most aspects of modern life -- and is evolving at a historic pace. The New Frontier artists that we showcase are taking completely fresh and thoughtful approaches to how the newest technological formats engage with the ancient art of storytelling.
Shari Frilot, Chief Curator, New Frontier, said Powerful technologies now enable experiences that capture, replicate, and replace the real. But it is even more special when the human touch converges with technology, we are provoked to reach beyond what we know to be real and enter into unfamiliar terrain. This transcendence can shift who we believe ourselves to be, where our bodies begin and end, what we are to each other, and who we are ultimately capable of being. The 2020 edition of New Frontier stares down the fear of losing our neighborhoods, and losing ourselves, and reminds us that the future is now -- and because the future is now, the future can be ours.
With these additions, the 2020 Sundance Film Festival Program features 241 works, 44% are directed or led by one or more women, 35% were directed or led by one or more artists of color, and 19% by one or more people who identify as LGBTQ+. The 32 projects announced today include work from 21 countries, and 31% are directed or led by one or more women, 44% are directed or led by one or more artists of color, and 31% by one or more people who identify as LGBTQ+. 4 were supported by Sundance Institute in development, whether through direct granting or residency Labs.
New Frontier alumni include Doug Aitken, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Chris Milk, Nonny de la Pe a, Pipilotti Rist and Jennifer Steinkamp. The Institutes support extends well beyond its curated slate of Festival projects, and includes the annual New Frontier Story Lab, which offers mentorship and development opportunities for new media storytellers, and the Future of Culture Initiative, an action plan that includes partnerships with Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University in order to implement key recommendations from a two-year global field scan that analyzed strategies for improving equity and inclusion in emerging media. The Sundance Institute New Frontier Program is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Cindy Harrell Horn and Alan Horn, Dell Technologies, Google Empathy Lab, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Oculus from Facebook, Unity Technologies, The Walt Disney Company, YouTube VR, and Adobe.
In addition to the New Frontier program announced today, films across all categories, including works in the Shorts, Special Events and Indie Episodic sections, have been announced and are listed at sundance.org/festival.
The 2020 Sundance Film Festival New Frontier slate:
FILMS AND PERFORMANCES
BLKNWS / U.S.A. (Director: Kahlil Joseph, Screenwriters: Sheba Anyanwu, Lee Harrison, Darol Kae, Producers: Onye Anyanwu, Kahlil Joseph) - An ongoing art project that blurs the lines between art, journalism, entrepreneurship, and cultural critique, appropriating the newsreel format as an opportunity to reimagine the contemporary cinematic experience, mixing an element of seriousness with a lighthearted twist on what news can be. Cast: Helen Molesworth, Alzo Slade, Amandla Stenberg, Trifari Williams. BLKNWS will also screen at 11 art house theatres around the country.
Infinitely Yours / U.S.A. (Director: Miwa Matreyek) A live performance at the intersection of cinema and theater exploring what it means to be living in the Anthropocene and the time of climate crisis. A kaleidoscopic meditation that is an emotionally impactful and embodied illustration of news headlines we see everyday.
A Machine for Viewing / United Kingdom, Australia (Directors: Oscar Raby, Richard Misek, Charlie Shackleton, Producers: Richard Misek, Oscar Raby) A unique
